To buy or not to buy

Mess_2

Hi everyone need your advice. I finished paying my credit card just before xmas (£1000) and the card is now in little bits so that I dont get tempeted again. I am know finishing paying for my car I have about £2000 left to pay.

I have been living at home and me and my boyfriend want to move out, as we need our own space and just need to get away from the parents. My boyfriend has been saving for ages and he has a very nice ammount saved up. So basicxally he is just waiting for me to get my !!! in gear and pay off my debt so that i can start saving and move out eventually.
I figuered I will be debt free by May in a few months time . Once the debt is paid I will be able to save up about £850/900(maybe) every month. I would love to be out of my parents by the end of the year/early Jan 2011.
I want to buy because I know if i rent I will never be able to save up to buy my own house, so I want to do it now and start this exciting and terrifying journey.

Here is where I need your help how much is a decent amount to save, as I havent got a clue and I want to give myself a target?
Any ideas would really help.

Sorry its a bit long.

puddy

as much as you can, there is never a maximum amount to save

if you can stick to your forcast amounts of 850 per month, by jan 11 you will have 7.5k

how much does he have?

what price range are you looking to buy?

welshy_2002

The larger your deposit, the better the interest rate on the mortgage and the less you pay back...

you won't get a mortgage with under 10% these days (a decent one)..... Look at a typical house you want and work out how much you need for that.

Then add a few grand for moving\solicitor\surveys etc etc..

Mess_2

He has about 30K saved up, so obviously I am nowhere near that, but we will go 50/50 on everything, so I want to have a nice amount to buy with.
We want to buy a flat instead of a house, obviously as its our first place we wants something quite cheap but nice. We havent really discussed price range, prob around 75K to 150K.

Arthritic_Toe

You're in a great position. By the end of 2010, you'll be able to see which direction the market is heading - we'll be well into the 2nd dip by then (in my opinion). If that is the case, the longer you wait, the better deal you'll get.

Mess_2

I will be debt free by May/June the latest and will be able to concentrate on my savings. I thought about saving and paying my debt in small ammounts at the same time but it wasnt a great idea.

I want to hopefully have my first house by Feb 2011 that's what I am aiming at, so fingers crossed.

g_attrill

As already said, as much as you possibly can! Every penny you save can go on either a deposit, fees, furnishings, or rainy-day savings.

puddy

ok, so by jan 11, you should have a joint pot of at least 37k (i assume that he will still be saving over the next year, but lets say what he has now)

if you go for your maximum purchase of 150k, you could allocate 30 of that for a deposit, meaning you have a 20% deposit, keep the rest for legal, moving, furniture, stamp duty etc

whats your income and his, would you both be able to borrow 120k between you? thats quite a big mortgage (well i think so anyway!)

Mess_2

Yeh he is brilliant at saving(I learned at lot from him). He is always saving, he is just really waiting for me to have a bit behind me so that we can buy together. I want everything 50/50, I would never ask him to put down more than me it's not really fair to ask and I wouldn't want to.

I am hopefully changing jobs in the summer and my income will hopefully go up x3K, so that alone will be a big help and I will be able to save a bit more. However I wont know for a while.